‘Can anybody go inside and have a look at them’ one boy asked’

The crusaders from Jarrow had become curiosities by the time the march reached Bedford.

They were so much of a media attraction that people queued to try and get a view of them while they slept.

Jarrow marchers passing throught the village of Lavendon, near Bedford, on their way to London, many playing mouth organs to keep spirits up.
(Photo by Savill/Getty Images) — Jarrow marchers passing throught the village of Lavendon, near Bedford, on their way to London, many playing mouth organs to keep spirits up. (Photo by Savill/Getty Images) | Getty Images

placeholder image — Jarrow marchers passing throught the village of Lavendon, near Bedford, on their way to London, many playing mouth organs to keep spirits up. (Photo by Savill/Getty Images) | Getty Images

One Shields Gazette report, from October 1936, gave a remarkable account of the interest the crusade was getting, 230 miles into their journey.

“For hours, a crowd of boys stood round the building where we were billeted, eager to have a free view of the ‘men from the frozen North’,” said our reporter.

Protest marchers on the Jarrow Crusade, who walked to London to demand the right to work. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) | Getty Images

“’Can anybody go inside and have a look at them’ one boy asked. He was assured that the men were quite human and far from being curiosities.”

However, the men were crammed in like sardines at their latest stopping point.

“It was a little paradoxical. After marching over 21 miles in drizzle and biting wind, we were recicved with great declarations of sympathy and goodwill, but at the same time only a cold meal of bread cheese and jam awaited the hungry 200.

“The tables were bare, salt and pepper was placed before the men in jam jars, and our own cooks had to boil the tea under very difficult conditions. A further trouble was that the Working Men's Institute in which we slept, could only accommodate a maximum of 160 men packed almost like sardines. How men managed to sleep there is complete tale by itself.”

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